In the 1970s, very basic messaging capabilities to customer-owned Private Branch Exchange (PBX) systems was introduced. For instance, a switchboard attendant delivered a signal to a telephone, e.g., in a hotel room, causing a lamp mounted on the telephone to illuminate. This technique was used to inform the guest that there was a message waiting or to remind the guest that are unavailable for incoming calls by placing their telephone in a Do-Not-Disturb (DND) mode. The status information provided was limited to what could be conveyed with a flashing light initiated by the system's attendant and only provided the status of the user and not the status of others.
With the introduction of Instant Messaging (“IM”) technologies in the late 1990's, computer users were able to monitor the “on/off” status of other users, typically users within a particular “buddy list.” Initially, the devices serviced by IM were limited to fixed computers. However, in recent years, a wider variety of communication devices have been adapted to IM including, mobile telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and pagers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,301,609 issued to Aravamudan et al., discloses a variety of devices available for use with an IM server. In the Aravamudan system, the user assigns priority levels to buddies as a way of maintaining control of the user's privacy with respect to his online location, presence, and activities. A buddy who is assigned a high priority may be notified of the user's “real presence” when the user accesses the network via any of his provisioned devices, while lower priority buddies can only discern the presence of the user's proxy. The Aravamudan system only provides the user and buddies with information on whether the buddy is logged on or off the network and with which device. Detailed status information concerning the network users is not provided.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/017485 discloses a unified messaging server in combination with an IM server whereby upon receipt of a telephone call an IM session can be initiated. The subscriber responds to the screen-pop instant message and accepts the call, rejects the call, or transmits a text message to the caller. The disclosed system provides calling party information to the subscriber but only at the time a call is placed and only about that particular call. Detailed status information concerning the network users is not provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,519,639 issued to Glasser et al. discloses an activity notification system that uses a timer to detect user operation of an input device occurring within a predetermined time interval. Activity messages are sent to other participants in an IM session at the end of each time interval (e.g., five seconds) to indicate a user is actively communicating. However, if a user's device is inactive at the end of the time interval, no messages are sent to indicate the non-active status. Thus, if a participant changes status more than once during the predetermined time interval, only the last status will be recognized. Additionally, the only information concerning participants provided to users is an activity detection notification. Instantaneous detailed status information concerning the network users is not provided.
Other IM systems incorporate information from the user's electronic calendar to update contact information. For example, U.S. Publication No. 2003/0046296 discloses automatically updating contact information for each name in a buddy list by retrieving information from each buddy's electronic calendar. Display icons next to the names in the buddy list may change color or type to indicate the buddy's status. To retrieve more detailed information about an entity, the user moves the cursor over a particular icon or name and pertinent information is displayed. Detailed status information is made available in the user's buddy list, but is not provided automatically to the network users.
Thus, it would be desirable to receive instantaneous detailed status information concerning network users and preferably a selected group of network users and endpoint devices. An endpoint status notification system is needed that provides immediate status notifications concerning network users, such as with an instant message-type alert. Moreover, it would be advantageous to provide the recipient of the status notification a way to immediately respond to the update. Additionally, a status notification system is needed that permits the user to selectively control the level of status information received for each network user and/or endpoint in the communication group.